Ancient aristocrat procession at Kyoto festival captivates 30,000 spectators
KYOTO -- More than 30,000 spectators were treated to an ancient Japanese imperial procession, a highlight of Kyoto's Aoi Matsuri festival, May 15 as some 500 people clad in aristocratic costumes paraded through central Kyoto.
The annual early summer festival organized by Shimogamo Jinja shrine in Kyoto's Sakyo Ward and Kamigamo Jinja shrine in the city's Kita Ward is said to have started in the sixth century. As part of the May 15 "Roto-no-gi" parade, a reenactment of a Heian period (794-1185) imperial procession, participants including this year's "Saio-Dai" festival heroine Aya Yamauchi, a graduate student at Tokyo University of the Arts and a native of Kyoto's Sakyo Ward, departed the Kyoto Imperial Palace and marched for some 8 kilometers to Kamigamo Jinja via Shimogamo Jinja.
Approximately 33,000 spectators (reported by Kyoto Prefectural Police) viewed the spectacle despite the early summer heat as the city's temperature hit a high of 26.7 degrees Celsius that day, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
(Japanese original by Yuki Ohigashi and Saki Hidaka, Kyoto Bureau)
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